| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| tmsjptc |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 11:11:13
Looking for some advice. I've been on this forum for about 1.5 years now. Primary complaint was chronic tension headaches and I've received a lot of relief from treating them with TMS techniques. They are now less frequent and less painful. I've even posted a success story when I thought I was "cured". I've had the symptom imperative many times but right now have one that seems odd and I'd like input from someone that this is just another ploy TMS can pull on you.
For the last month, my neck has been "stiff". It started one morning without anything attributable from the day before. The weird thing is, compared to other symptoms I've experienced, that it doesn't wax and wane. It feels constant. Also, if I'm looking straight ahead, I don't even notice it (i.e. there's no pain) which seems strange if it is supposed to be a distraction of TMS. When I try and turn my head to either side, I'm limited on how far I can go and it meets with resistance and pain.
Has anyone had this? It wouldn't have to be in the neck necessarily. I just wonder if an unchanging, not necessarily painful (it's only if I turn my head) symptom would also be TMS and if I should treat it as such (think psychological, don't be afraid of it, etc).
Thanks. |
| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Aussie |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 20:03:04
Well Shawn that response fits the whole "getting serious problems ruled out" but c'mon. What adult isn't gonna have at least some minor degeneration in their neck on the ever thorough MRI. That part of the spine is destined to straighten with age and disc bulges will be inevitable for most as they age. I saw a doco on an elite athlete recently who had 9 bulging discs in his neck and he is still a professional athlete. You know all this so I guess my point is its all well and good to get checked out medically but the double edged sword here will be the FEAR most physicians will then instill once the findings show up..... And bingo Tms has you right where it needs you. |
| tmsjptc |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 17:09:10
Yes, I went down plenty of wrong paths by going to see doctors. I had a whole host of nocebos that I had to dispel my belief in. I know this is TMS so I'm going to treat it as such. Thanks all. |
| pspa123 |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 16:15:10
Beware of diagnoses such as facet joint problems, bone spurs, arthritis, loss of curvature, what have you. I collected all sorts of diagnoses on my neck before it became clear to me (with the help of a TMS-savvy physician) that I had extremely tight muscles due to TMS/stress/anxiety whatever you want to call it. |
| Back2-It |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 15:26:25
I agree with TT.
Yeah, go to the doc to see if you don't have Encephalitis, but when you don't you will be shunted to an ortho doc, who will order imaging and find an "abnormality" of some sort and then send you to a neuro doc, etc. With any luck you might end up with a chiroquacker adjusting you.
Sorry to be so cynical, but this is usually the path.
Roll your neck from side to side and bend your head forward. If you feel a tightness your muscles are tight. Have a friend press down on your trap muscles? Feel achy? Those guys, along with neck muscles, are the first to react to stress. You can accept they are tight from stress or enrich the medical profession, which, when it comes to muscular and skeletal issues, have not a clue.
Ain't nobody a doc on here. Okay, there are a few, but I'm not one, but I have had your "exact same symptoms" (the phrase that pays) and it was was it was: stress.
"Bridges Freeze Before Roads" |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 10:37:55
Shawn gives sound advice to see a competent physician to have symptoms dx'ed in case it's something SEROUS like a stroke or a tumor. But a doctor may also lay on you huge NOCEBOS, like mine did when I got my first seriously bad sore neck/shoulder dx'ed by a neuro specialist as a "pinched nerve C/6-C-7". He prescribed a traction bag for a month, (voo-doo) forcing me to sit in a corner facing a door (to hang the traction thing on) and read a good book by Dan Millman called "The Warrior Athlete" back then, (retitled now to something less violent like: "Every One Gets a Trophy". I practiced writing left handed, as Millman advised in his book to get in touch with the other half of my brain and to keep from going stir crazy for a month not playing tennis. (I started playing "lightly" again two or three weeks later--(I always cut doc's rehab advice in half--just to play it "safe").
No one ever came to this site first without seeing a doc for chronic pain, the odds are good it's TMS--about 80%. The boiler plate on the HOME page here says "SEE a Doc--This isn't medical advice". If you're having a stroke or a heart attack, you likely won't be reading at this point. If it's a tumor, get an x-ray and it may be mistaken for your left testicle, as mine was by a chiro-quack-ter. My brother had bad neck pain years ago and he resolved it with bio-feed back, which I believe Dr. Sarno mentions in one of his books as being OK to do, but don't quote me.
So, yah go to a doc if you want to, and in these days of defensive medicine, you may get lots of test. They may find an anomaly on your vertebrae, tell you if you don't behave yourself and stop living your life they'll be doing SURGERY on you like the neuro told me. Or, if he's a surgeon and there's some open time in the surgery, he may want to do some cutting, if he's got a lot of bills to pay. It's in your court those are some of your options.
I had a recent sore neck/shoulder on the other side for a few months.I treated it as TMS, didn't see any docs, (actually maybe I did, it's been awhile), asked him if it could be a heart attack (like a week after the pain started) since it was in the left arm--he gave me a look like I was crazy and just about laughed in my face.
That's my story and I'm sticking by it, your results may be different. |
| tmsjptc |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 10:37:32
All, thanks for your replies. I'm going to continue to treat it as TMS for now. I was reading Freedom from Pain by Dr. Peter Levine when this stiffness came on a month ago and I think something triggered the memory of an accident trauma I had. This was 21 years ago almost to the exact day (pre-dating my chronic tension headaches by 3.5 years). I did a kamikaze dive (no hands) into an unfamiliar pool while drunk and hit my head on the bottom since it was only 4-5 feet deep. Fortunately, I didn't break anything but I did require 19 staples to put my mangled scalp back together and then I had a neck brace for a while followed by physical therapy. I recovered. I had forgotten what the stiffness and neck pain felt like but am realizing that's exactly what I'm feeling right now. Except this time I didn't do anything physical to cause it. In my TMS introspective work I had looked at other potentially emotionally troubling things, but I never considered this accident trauma. So, I'm going to work on going back in my mind to what I felt when it actually happened and assure myself that I'm fine now. I'll update this post when I get past it.
Shawn, I hear you and appreciate your comments, especially knowing your time on this forum. I've had the x-rays and MRIs, been to chiropractors, osteopaths, and MD's, and tried many meds. But, honestly, none of that helped me like treating it as TMS. So, for now anyway, I'm going to forego seeing an MD. |
| shawnsmith |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 09:28:39
Not all neck stiffness is due to TMS, and you must keep this in mind. Just like you must keep in mind that not all pain in general is due to TMS. Some people on this message board don't believe this, but they are wrong. You must rule out all other explanations before arriving to the conclusion that your neck stiffness is due to TMS. That means going to your doctor, if the problem persists more than 2-3 weeks, and having it checked out with all the appropriate tests. Don't take medical advice from this message board, but go to a real doctor with an MD and let them physically examine you. There are many things that can cause neck stiffness and automatically assuming that the pain is due to TMS, without ruling out a more serious cause, is not wise. |
| Back2-It |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 09:00:04
Your neck muscles are among the first to react to stress. The stiffness or tightness in the neck muscles eventually pull and effect the shoulder and back muscles; hence the pain when turning.
This is sometimes caused by "turtling", a "fight or flight" reflex, that has a person actually bringing their shoulders up and their neck down in self defense of some thing that is "attacking" them, or, in today's post saber tooth tiger era, something that is eating away at them.
Realize this, go with it the feelings, don't get upset by the sensations and begin to fear them, and they will go away.
"Bridges Freeze Before Roads" |
| Matt2013 |
Posted - 06/28/2013 : 04:33:03
I've got this.. the connective tissue right behind my neck is tight. So I haven't got a 100 percent movement when turning my neck. At the end of the day it is literally tension in the neck though. So it has to be TMS. |
| Birdie78 |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 12:54:14
Hi,
TMSJPTC, I am not dealing with a stiff neck but with a stiff elbow. Came from one day to the next. I can bend my arm next to 90 degrees and then there's resistance and pain. When I do not try to bend my arm it does not hurt. So I guess no matter if it's your neck or my arm: the TMS-mechanism behind it seems to be the same and once again shows how powerful TMS can be...
It was clealry related to a very stressful period in my life but the stiffness is still there. So that shows me that at a very deep level I did not get it and there's still a need for producing and maintaining symptoms.
Kind regards from Germany sends Birdie |
| Peregrinus |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 12:14:39
TMSJ:
I had the same problem before I ever heard of Sarno and successfully treated it with Indocin which for most is a harmless anti-inflammatory drug. After that I heard several people refer to it as the miracle drug. I will add it did nothing for my back.
If you examine the back on an adult skeleton you will see all sorts of malformations. It seems logical that these malformations present with inflammation.
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| 1koolkat |
Posted - 06/27/2013 : 11:33:21
Sounds like you're having some confusion and difficulty moving past the symptoms, tmsjptc.
I just read a quote from Stephen Mitchell's version of the Tao Te Ching which says, "If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish." This hit me just right because Chickenbone recently told me about Somatic Experiencing where she focuses on the symptom, allows it in, and then asks it to get worse, basically, and it diminishes or goes. I've tried it and it worked with a headache and some arm pain. Working on the Tinnitis.
Before TMS days, I healed a horribly painful neck one time after asking "Who is the pain in my neck?" It was my boss and I pulled out every tool I knew to work on the underlying feelings and thoughts. It disappeared never to return - until . . . the next morning when my boss walked up to me and started talking. Then, all I had to do was remind myself of what I knew to be true. Poof! gone.
Other than that, I go about my day, do my exercise and whatever else, and I fuhgeddabowdit! I have stopped trying to analyze where it comes from or how much it is. In my opinion, you are experiencing classic TMS. You know it is, or you wouldn't be back on this forum. Do the work, bro.  Peace,
Kat |
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